Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz
Former B2K frontman Omarion continues to trend on social media for the new year—but not because of his music. Instead, he’s popping up everywhere thanks to the new strain of COVID-19, Omicron, whose name almost sounds almost the same as his. (Kinda like the virus.) So the “Ice Box” singer appeared on ABC’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve this past Friday to clear up any uncertainty.
“New Year’s Rockin’ Eve! It’s Omarion,” he began his 30-second message to the audience. “Now, I know that there has been a lot of confusion online recently, so my lawyers asked me to read this: ‘I, Omarion, am a musician and entertainer – you knew that – not a variant.’ Okay? The last time I had to do this was in 2000, when everyone confused Y2K with B2K. That ain’t how it’s supposed to be.”
But if you thought that would’ve helped, it didn’t. You see, the poor fellow had his name humorously misspelled by the good folks at ABC. So Omarion shot two more clips, this time uploaded on his TikTok page, to straighten everything out once and for all.
“Hi everybody, this is Omarion. I am an artist, not a variant,” he reiterated. “So please be aware that if you just so happen to run into me on the street, you don’t have to isolate for five days, nor do you have to have a negative test result in order to dance to my music. So please, be safe, be healthy, happy new year.”
It’s great seeing Omarion get in on the jokes and take lighthearted jabs at himself as the rates of Omicron infection spike around the world. Black Twitter and IG are having fun with it, too. Even Atlanta actor Lakeith Stanfield reached out to the singer about it. “You ruining Christmas for everybody smh,” he messaged Omarion in the DMs. Stanfield then posted a screenshot of it and wrote the following caption: “I’m weak i wonder if he’s gunna [sic] respond.”
Let’s see what Black Twitter has to say about the whole deal and the variant, too:
